Railway-car side bearing



L. RICHARDSON RAiLWAY CAR SIDE BEARING Filpd Aug. 6. 1923 mm nun W Oct.18, 1927.

v V I ii/67%; I v I MI'HWEb/ZQIUZQOIQ Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

i v UNITED STATES I PAVTE NT; OFFICE.

LAWRENCE R CHARD ON, 0F LouIsviLLE, KENTUCKY.

RAILWAY-CAR sins BEA-RING.

. Application al a au usta, 1923. Serial nae-55,230.

:This invention relates to-railway car side bearings.

When moving along. a track a car body sways from side to side. Theextent of this swaying. action depends upon the. condition of the trackand speed. Whena car body sways to one side it comes in contact with theside bearing and isstopped by same. In medium. capacity cars it hasbeenv found that this blow has. a force equal to 'one'half the weightofv the car body whilein higher capacitycars the force is equivalent'to"thetotal Weight. Furthermore,. it, has been found undercertainconditions that practically all of the energy'of this blow isretu'rned'to the car body so that the -latter sways over to the oppositeside bearing with a blow that is equal to the sum of the blow of thefirst bearing plus the effect of the irregularities in the tracksurface. I11 other words, harmonic action occurs with undesirableresults.

Accordin ly, one object of the invention is to provi e a side bearingwhich not only has the action of a spring for bufling the l blow, butalso has a frictional action to pre vent the energy ofthe blow beingreturned to the car body.

Another object is to provide a simple, novel and efiicient side bearingfor railway cars adapted to meet the various requirements under serviceconditions.

These and other objects are accomplished by means of the arran ementdisclosed on the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which- Figure 1 is afragmentary vertical sectional view of a railway car embodying myinvention; I

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view of the side bearing showing thespring friction plates unloaded; and

Figure 3 is a similar sectional view of the same side bearin showing thespring frictional plates deflected whereby shocks are yieldably takenand absorbed.

The various novel features of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description and drawings, and will be particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

The invention is illustrated in connection with a box car having a body10 including a body bolster 11 with a suitable center bearing contactingwith the truck bolster 12 as at 13. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, thebody bolster side bearin members 14 are out of engagement wit theapplication blocks l5 which would "betlie normal con v dition underideal circumstances. "However,

asmentioned above, due to track irregularities, the car body iscausedtoswayfrom side to slde, the-extent of which depends.

upon the condition of the track [and the speed. Hertofore side bearingshave been provided, but'such side bearings have been incapable ofbufiing and absorbing-the Shocks in a manner to prevent moreorlessiof-ia serious recoil, resulting in'an amplification of the swayingaction andfexcessiveshocks l of the side bearings occasioned'thereby.

To satisfactorily baa the side bearing blows andtoabsorb thesame in amanner to prevent'undesirable recoil, I have pro side of the truckincluding a pile or plural-- 16 which, as shown, are mounted within aside bearing housing 17 carried on the truck bolster 12. When thefriction plates 16 are under no load, as shown, for example, in Figures1 and 2, such friction plates are straight and undeflected. However,when the car body is caused to sway, the body side bearing members 14 onone side or the other pass into engagement with the associatedapplication blocks 15, subjectinglthe pile of disks or plates 16 topressure, deflecting same as shown particularly in Fi re 3. In thisconnection it will be noted t at the under-surface 18 of eachapplication block 15 is circularly convex and the fioor 19 of eachbearing housing 17 is circularly'concave, so that as the pile of springplates is 'vided aside bearingarrangement at each shock incident to theswaying, but also said plates have a frictional rubbing action one withrespect to the other for dissipating the energy of the blow andpreventing an undesirable recoil action, this being especially true inview of the fact that not only do the plates have a frictional rubbingaction as the pile is being compressed, but also as the pile is assumingits normal position, as shown in Figure 2.

This side bearing has a high resisting force on a downward or inwardmovement and an appreciable reduced recoil on the upward or outwardmovement. By the use of this type of side bearing the swaying action ofthe car body and accordingly the number of derailments are reduced.There are lighter blows on the bolsters, side frames,

axles and wheel, and wear on the track is reduced.

It is my intention to cover all modifica tions of the invention fallingwithin the spirit and scope of the following claims.

7 I claim:

1. In a railroad car, the combination of a truck bolster, a body bolsterand a side bearing means interposed between said bolsters said sidebearing means actin as a friction brake and comprising a plura ity ofsuperimposed relatively stifl spring plates,

in frictional contact on relatively large friction surfaces, said platesbeing laterally confined and ada ted to deflect with frictionalresistance un er load for absorbing shocks and reducing recoil.

2111a railroad car, side heating means adapted to be interposed between.the body and the truck bolsters comprising a friction braking device,said frictionbraking device having a plurality of superimposedrelatively stifi' spring plates, in frictional contact on relativelylarge friction surfaces,

3.Ina

railroad'car, the combination of a car bolster and a truck bolster andside bearing means interposed between said bolsters, said side bearingmeans comprising a bearing member on one of said bolsters and acooperating bearing member on the other of said bolsters, said lastnamed bear ing member being yieldingly mounted on a friction brakingdevice, said friction braking device comprising a plurality ofsuperimposed relatively stifl springplates, con tacting with relativelylarge friction sur faces, said plates being laterally confined in ahousing having a 'concavedibase, said last namedbearing member having aconvexc'adp base, whereby under load'said friction braking deviceabsorbs shocks im arted through said bearing'members and re uces recoil;

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 3rd day of August, 1'923. i 1 LAWRENCERICHARDSON.

